Friday, October 1, 2010

Maine gubernatorial candidates on buying local

The Mitchell Administration will work to assist local farms and fishermen and increase access to local markets through a Farm and Bait to Plate Program. The Program will require that at least 25% of food served in our schools, prisons, and state facilities, be locally grown or harvested. We will also encourage their use in daycares, hospitals, and nursing homes. This will mean more money going directly into local economies and the hands of Maine citizens while improving their nutrition and health.

Independent candidate Eliot Cutler reprinted a news story on his webpage:

Cutler [used] the opportunity to pitch some of his policy ideas, including a couple linked to Garten’s expertise. He said that Mainers buy only 4 percent of their food from local sources and if that figure was increased to 10 percent, it would produce thousands of jobs and put millions of dollars in Maine farmers’ pockets.

Republican nominee Paul LePage:Nothing. I saw a few mentions of local control of schools, but that's an unrelated issue.

This is not an automatic endorsement of Paul LePage, as one-issue voting is foolish. I just have yet to find him peddling this branch of economic pseudoscience like the other two contenders.

LePage is himself a creationist and that reveals some flaws in his thinking. Still, his two major opponents have been caught red-handed demonstrating economic ignorance, and unlike LePage, they will probably act on it when shaping state policies.